Opens Up About Tough Times in a New Memoir

It’s not always easy being Bruce Springsteen. In his candid memoir, Born to Run, the legendary rocker reveals details of his difficult childhood with his abusive father, his intermittent battle with depression and how he channeled his pain into his music. “For my parents’ troubled lives I was determined to be the enlightened, compassionate voice of reason and revenge,” the 67-year-old writes of his often-unemployed father and secretary mother. And he credits wife Patti Scialfa, 63, with helping him survive his depression. “It lasted for a long time — it would last for a year and then it would slip away,” Bruce said recently. “[Patti’s] strength and the love she had was very important as far as guiding me through it.”

“Patti really had to work with me,” Bruce says of his wife helping him through depression. “I’m still in love with playing music,” says Bruce.